Wake Forest survives big test from Cal State-Fullerton

Nov 28, 2008 - 3:07 AM
ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- For the first time this season,
24th-ranked Wake Forest was put to the test. The Demon Deacons
survived it, remaining unbeaten with a 75-69 victory over Cal
State-Fullerton in the opening round of the 76 Classic on
Thursday.

Wake Forest had put together three straight blowouts, but the
Titans wouldn't go away quietly. Freshman guard Jacques
Streeter buried back-to-back 3-pointers late in the second half
and Marcio Lassiter followed with a layup to cut the deficit to
64-61 with just over three minutes remaining.

"I think in the second half, we really settled down and started
to perform and play together," Fullerton coach Bob Burton said.
"We started off pretty well in the beginning, but their defense
stepped it up. For a moment, their defense was better than
their offense as we weren't playing together. We continued to
have way too many turnovers and you can't do that against an ACC
team."

After two free throws by junior center Chas McFarland pushed
Wake Forest's lead back to five, Josh Akognon buried an
18-footer to pull Fullerton back to within three at 66-63. But
that's as close as the Titans could get the rest of the way.

"Coach told us in the huddle to stay focused and keep our
composure," Wake Forest guard Jeff Teague said. "We had to make
a couple big stops at the end and Chas made big free throws."

Teague led the Demon Deacons with 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting
- including 4-of-7 from 3-point range - and Al-Farouq Aminu
added 14.

Akognon paced the Titans with 24, while Streeter added 14 and 11
rebounds.

The Demon Deacons won their first three games of the season by
an average margin of 36.3 points.

"Our defense has been good pretty good," Wake Forest coach Dino
Gaudio said. "They made some tough threes, really tough threes,
and as long as we were contesting them and are up on those guys
that's all we can do. This was a good win for us."